Seven-year-old Fisher Taylor has been in the hotel business for nearly four months. His guest list is growing and the great thing is no one complains about housekeeping.

His guests are bugs, and they like the mess.

“A cricket, ants, a couple of mosquitoes,” Taylor said when going down the list of bugs that have checked into the homemade hotel he built at the 4-H bug club.

The bug hotel is one of several activities in which children in the 4-H bug club at Jefferson College have participated.

Program leader Kelli Mitchell said she isn’t necessarily a bug person, but loves leading the kids in the classes. She was a member of 4-H when she was a child.

“I thought bug club would be a good organization because we have the woods and a variety of different insects here, so I thought it would be a good match,” she said.

The 4-H program is offered by Mississippi State University Extension Service, and aims in part to introduce young people to wildlife, conservation, environmental science, outdoor recreation and scientific inquiry.

The bug club began meeting in March, Mitchell said. During the summer, the meetings will be longer and will include more activities.

On a recent scavenger hunt, the club had to find a variety of bug-related items, including particular plants that attract bugs and places bugs like to live, such as under rotten tree limbs.

The bug hotels were another project the bug club kids undertook.

With a two-liter soda bottle and some string, the club members made natural habitats made to attract insects.

Taylor has high hopes for a growing hotel guest list to one day include a variety of insects, including horned beetles, bees, moths and butterflies.

The accommodations are anything but fancy. There are no chocolate chip cookies and comfy pillows, but Taylor has filled out his hotel with everything a bug might look for in amenities.

“I filled it with moss, sticks a few pieces of dirt,” Taylor said. “I used anything that a bug would like.”

Taylor is one of the original members of the club. He is the son of Michelle and Andy Taylor.

The bug club generally meets the second Monday of each month, but the next meeting is from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at Historic Jefferson College Visitor Center, and children from 7 to 18 are welcome to join.

The next class will involve arts and crafts, including creating bug sculptures from natural materials and learning how to make paper the way some wasps do in order to build their nests.

For more information about the 4-H bug club call 4-H County Coordinator Jason Jones at 601-445-8201.